Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. ~Voltaire

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Redbud Cafe - Bentonville, Arkansas

So I've been wanting to try the Redbud Cafe in Bentonville for quite some time, but their hours of operation (breakfast and lunch M-F) just never coincided with my times in the area. However, today Hubby and I were able to venture over to 8th Street just across the street from the Wal Mart Home Office to check out the lunch offerings.

The menu is posted on a large blackboard, so it's pretty easy to see all that is available. The salad bar appeared to have lots of variety, and there were some salad bar/soup/sandwich options. I probably should have gone that route.

Instead, I ordered the chipotle chicken panini with clam chowder as my side; Hubby ordered the daily wrap special which was a pizza wrap. He got chips on the side.

We were able to sit outside on the patio which is pretty nondescript...but, hey, anytime we can be outside, we will be. Service was quick and pleasant.

The food was just so-so. My panini came on a very thick bun...more bread than I like. The chicken appeared to be preprocessed Tyson-style frozen chicken strips (Tyson is a BIG chicken processor in Arkansas.), the chipotle sauce okay but just that. The clam chowder which I chose in place of the tomato soup, was thin and probably canned. It really didn't have much flavor...or clams for that matter. Hubby's pizza wrap resembled a pizza Hot Pocket...lots of pizza saycem pepperoni and gooey cheese. it really was like a Hot Pocket and was probably not the best choice for a warm summery day.

Oh well. We might give it another go for breakfast, but we probably won't go back for lunch. There are just too many other options that offer really tasty meals. We really did want to like it because we like local, but it just did not happen this time.